L’Absinthe

Very friendly and welcoming bistro. Décor and layout of the place is a bit cramped.
The food is average bistro fare but cooked well. Escargot were just average, duck confit I make better at home, but roasts and salads done right. The wine selection was very good.
Overall, reliable and friendly local bistro.

Great little french bistro off the high street. I can come eat here every day.

French bistro cooking done very well. Friendly staff. Big attraction is the wine listbasically a £10 markup from their shop so, in particular, mid to high end wines are fantastic value.

[Non-​photo Review]
For full review, please see:

L’Absinthe That’s the Spirit
Summary:
L’Absinthe is a pleasant little bistrot on a lovely street in Primrose Hill. The simple food is executed well and is very reasonably priced. Their wine, which they also sell on a retail basis, is only marked up £10 when you order it during your meal, and they have a short but interesting selection to choose from. But the main thing about L’Absinthe is that their passion and joie de vivre shine through, and they have made it into the type of neighborhood restaurant you wished you had just around the corner from your home. I will certainly be returning.
Paris in Primrose
I am not sure why I’ve suddenly decided to review a pair of places in Primrose Hill but alliteration aside, they are both worth it. My last review of Lanka, the café serving French pâtisserie with a Japanese twist, is about a five minute walk away from L’Absinthe, which is just off Regents Park Road (which functions as the High Street of the neighborhood).
Located on an attractive, wide intersection on Chalcot Road, L’Absinthe is a French bistrot-​style restaurant and retail wine shop. It was set up in November 2007 by a group of Frenchmen, all with impressive backgrounds.
The proprietor is Chef Jean-​Christophe Slowik, and he worked in the front-​of-​house under Marco Pierre White for roughly 20 years at many of his well-​known ventures. When Slowik decided to go solo, he enlisted help in the form of well-​respected chef Christophe Favre, who has worked with Michel Rostang in France and also at the Bleeding Hart in London. At the Bleeding Hart, Christophe met Jean-​Marc Charre, who was recruited to L’Absinthe’s front-​of-​house, along with Jena-Marc’s colleague Laurent Valentino. Laurent was running the floor on our visit, and he is one of the most pleasant hosts I’ve come across in London.
The restaurant has both upstairs and downstairs dining rooms. Upstairs is light and airy, with a motif of green presumably a reference to its namesake. There are a total of 30 covers, with one long rectangular communal table as you enter, a few shelves of wine, and then a number of simple wood tables on a slightly raised level, with a little window to the kitchen at the back. There is also terrace seating available outside I believe about five tables when the weather is nice enough to warrant it.
The downstairs room was not open when we were there for our Saturday lunch, but seemed perfectly pleasant and houses another 34 covers. The bar also resides below, and there is direct access from the kitchen as well.
Making a meal of it
We had walked past the place earlier in the week, when it was unfortunately closed, and I recalled some foodie friends of mine going here about a year ago and saying it was good, so I made a mental note to keep it in mind next time we were in the area. That just happened to be a few days later, so we took another look at the menu posted outside and decided that the bistrot fare looked appetizing and reasonably priced, plus it looked like everyone there was having a good time.
Upon being seated, some bread was brought to our table to keep us occupied. It was of the basic sliced variety (which seemed store-​bought, but I didn’t ask) and was freshly toasted for each table, a nice touch. The butter was particularly good, and it is homemade on the premises according to one of the waitresses.
As I perused the wine list, I noticed that they seem to have a strong relationship with (or affinity for) the champagne house Thiénot, as the brand features on the cover of their wine list and also on the awning of the restaurant. Alain Thiénot is quite a well-​regarded figure in the Champagne region, and also runs a number of other brands besides the one bearing his name, including Canard-​Duchêné.
I decided to sample a glass of the Thiénot Brut NV, which is the house champagne (£6.95), and thought it was very nice. It had a good citrus kick to it, without being overly harsh, and also displayed a pleasant creaminess and fairly elegant mousse. The bubbles did not seem particularly fine, but I thought it functioned well as a house champagne and was not overly expensive.
A funny and charming touch was that Laurent left the rest of the bottle on the table once he had poured my glass, and said nonchalantly that I could have the rest of it if I wanted (the bottle was more than half full). I think he was sort of serious and it was this warm and slightly cheeky attitude that helped to make it an enjoyable afternoon it was as if we were already very old and loyal customers, when he’d only met us in the last ten minutes.
Mrs. LF opted to have two starters for her lunch. First up was the marinated herring (£4.95), which was certainly a generous portion and attractively presented. The marinade was good and not overly sweet or strong (we asked if it was marinated on the premises, and the waitress said it

What a joy… having heard nothing but great things I finally got to go on Saturday night and I will return as often as I can… opened a couple of years ago by JC, the best looking french man in London… and his side kick Laurent… the second best looking french man in London this restaurant is how all local restaurants should be… friendly…buzzy…warm, intimate and serving fabulous authentic french cooking in the true sense of the word… no ‘cuisine’ here… no fiddly bits no delusions of grandeur… it’s just food. A carefully thought out menu that delivers on all levels from the quality of the produce to the simplicity of the cooking… there is a lightness of touch that resonates through each and every dish… we started with a Salad Lyonnaise made with proper chunky lardons full of flavour and a perfectly cooked poached egg the yolk of which burst beautifully to wrap itself around the leaves giving a richness to the already perfectly balanced dressing… it was fabulous. I had the snails… tacky? Maybe but they were so good… not over garlicky and cooked perfectly… soft and yielding… not rubbery and hard… we then shared a cote de boeuf… it was served just little under rare and the meat was of the highest quality, full of flavour and very tender, the frites tasted like they’d been double cooked in goosefat and the complimentary salad and pommes lyonnaise were perfect. We shared a bitter chocolate and coffee concotion for dessert which was heavenly… the house wine is fab… the service was friendly yet efficient and the place was full of happy glowing faces… it was perfect… if you live around there go a lot… if you don’t go anyway it’s well worth a visit.

Great little spot in Prim Hill. it has a room downstairs as well, so is larger than it appears at first.
The steak was delicious and the gazpacho was a nice starter, although portioned rather large and chunkier than I was expecting.

A great local french restaurant. Tiny room, wonderful traditional french food, friendly service. Try the Onion Soup!